ADA, Okla. – SWOSU held off any East Central run to earn their seventh straight win behind a career day from
Elijah Williams in the final true road game of the year.
The Bulldogs (15-11, 12-9 GAC) will now host SNU in the final game before heading to Fort Smith for the Conference Tournament next week. Senior Day will take place on Saturday, March 1, at 3:00 p.m.
SWOSU found themselves in a defensive battle in the opening 20 minutes, with the score sitting at 22-16 in favor of the Dawgs. The 22 points represent the second-lowest number of points scored in the first half this year, while the 16 allowed is a season low. The Bulldogs trailed 15-11 at the 5:28 mark before
Elijah Williams sparked an 11-1 run by himself, scoring a dunk and three three-pointers to close out the half and put the Dawgs up going into the final frame. Outside of Williams, the Dawgs shot just 4-24 (16.7%) and 0-10 from the deep ball. SWOSU attempted zero free throws to six for the home team in the opening 20 minutes.
The second half started with the Bulldogs going on an early 8-2 run over the opening three minutes to extend the lead to 12. However, the home team would not get too far behind, slowly fighting back to just a four-point game at 43-39, the closest it had been all half with just 4:30 left on the clock. The Dawgs would then end the game on an 11-4 run to put the Tigers out of reach of any comeback attempt. The Bulldogs allowed just 43 points, 12 points lower than their previous season high and the lowest point total allowed since January 11, 2014, against East Central in a 55-43 win.
Williams had a career day, posting season highs in points (23) and threes (5) while going 8-12 from the field and grabbing 12 rebounds.
Eli Al-Debaran poured in 14 points of his own. As a team, SWOSU shot 21-56 (37.5%) and just 6-23 (26.1%) from deep, going 1-16 from deep outside of Williams.
ECU shot 17-50 (34%) from the field and just 3-23 (13%) from deep, both new opponent lows for the Bulldogs. The Tigers also finished 6-14 from the free throw line.
